Disclaimer

Images

We do our best to use images that are open source. If you feel
we have used an image of yours inappropriately please let us
know and we will fix it.

Accuracy

Our writing can be punchy but we do our level best to ensure
the material is accurate. If you believe we have made a mistake,
please let us know.

Visits

If you are planning to see an artwork, please keep in mind that
while the art we cover is held in permanent collections, pieces
are sometimes removed from display for renovation or traveling
exhibitions.

Edward Wadsworth

British painter and camoufleur

0

Be the first to vote…

Birth Date

October 29, 1889

Death Date

June 21, 1949

Sartle site makes heavy use of JavaScript and to work properly, it requires JavaScript to be enabled. Either you have JavaScript disabled or your browser does not support JavaScript. If you can enable it in your browser preferences, you will have a better experience.

Edward Wadsworth was a well-known camoufleur — an artist who worked to confuse and dazzle the minds of his viewers, or, more specifically, the opposing armies in World War I.

Wadsworth worked in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an intelligence officer before he was recruited into the dazzle camouflage project. His work in painting ships during the war influenced his art for years, such as in Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool. He was only one of several artists that were a part of the dazzle camouflage project, but his name has become the most recognizable due to the several dazzle ship paintings created after the war. When speaking to the press about his work on the project, he referred to the dazzle camouflage patterns he created as a visual code, unbreakable to the German U-boats.

Wadsworth became a critics’ darling with his dazzle painting. At exhibitions showcasing the work of camoufleurs who had worked for the armed forces of different nations, the critics were singularly focused on praising his dazzle paintings above the rest. His work continued to captivate the critics for years, though one raised the question of whether his work had actually been successful in practice.

After employing the use of dazzle camouflage, the English navy did see a decrease in ship sinkings. Some high ranking officers argued that other factors such as additional escort ships were the reason for the decrease in sinkings. Though its success is arguable, its safe to say that dazzle ships on the whole still fared far better than less fabulous vessels such as the HMS Griper, so the project was far from a failure. The press reported on the decrease in ship sinkings, declared dazzle camouflage a success, and the public began buying up dazzle pajamas, ties, anything that could be "be-dazzled" and bought, was.

When dazzle camouflage was first suggested it was met with a great deal of skepticism. Trippy optical art, such as the work of Bridget Riley, wouldn’t be around for another few decades. If a time traveler had brought back her painting Hesitate, folks would have understood the potential for using paint to visually mess with people right away.

Wadsworth’s success as a camoufleur might attributed to his knowledge of machinery. He was influenced by his father who owned an industrial firm and taught Wadsworth in the hope that he would one day take over the family business. As such, Edward approached his dazzle ships from a technical perspective when planning out his patterns, preferring contrasting vertical lines over the geometric shapes more widely used by other camofleurs.

Edward Alexander WadsworthARA (29 October 1889 – 21 June 1949) was an English artist, most famous for his close association with Vorticism. He painted, often in tempera, coastal views, abstracts, portraits and still-life. He was also an engraver on wood and copper. In the First World War he was involved in transferring dazzle camouflage designs onto ships for the Royal Navy, and after the war he continued to paint nautical themes.